Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi, a Palestinian terrorist 'mastermind', is behind Israeli bars.

Israel's Army Radio has said that Barghouthi could be released in exchange for clemency for Jonathan Pollard, convicted of treason for spying for Israel, and serving a life term.

This is not the first time this exchange has been proposed. The Reuters article states that this proposal was put foward in 2004 by Ariel Sharon's regime.

The idea now is that Barghouthi, a member of the 'pragmatic' Fatah will undermine Hamas if released. Much like releasing the exiled Vladimir Lenin into Russia was like releasing a virus to undo the monarchy.

This is a bad deal. If Barghouthi is such a detriment to Hamas, Israel should simply release him and be done with it. Putting Pollard into the mix makes it look like this is mere politicking and not a serious anti-terrorist effort, and releasing a master terrorist is an odd way to go about that anyway. Israel should just forget ever getting Pollard back - and if they truly respected the U.S. and its sovereignty, and had true contrition over Pollard's spying, it wouldn't even ask for his return.